


I've Heard It Said

by RageQuit



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Abuse, Fake AH Crew, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Manipulation, Panic Attacks, Some Minor Raywood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 03:11:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4247136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RageQuit/pseuds/RageQuit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been a bit of a whirlwind romance. It blew up quickly. One night bevs, the next a date, then they were sitting on the couch kissing like their lives depended on it. There was no real reason their paths should have ever crossed in the first place, but they were glad it had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Our Path's Did Cross

**Author's Note:**

> A fic short enough to be a one shot but broken down into chapters because that's how I roll. 
> 
> This is my last minute entry for Chu's (glackedandmullered) Michael Jones writing contest. I'm pleased with how this wound up coming out after only having a week to work on it.

It had been a bit of a whirlwind romance. It blew up quickly. One night bevs, the next a date, then they were sitting on the couch kissing like their lives depended on it. There was no real reason their paths should have ever crossed in the first place, but they were glad it had.

Gavin was the bouncy, eccentric son of a wealthy English man. A rich little entrepreneur. He knew exactly what he was doing with his life and where he was going. He knew he could find it in Los Santos, using his parents money to life a lavish lifestyle until he could get his own work to take off.

Michael was the kid who got way too big for his britches and found himself at the mercy of Geoff Ramsey, the most fearsome man in the county. But one risky wise crack landed him on Ramsey’s good side and he soon became the newest member of the Fake AH Crew. 

They both found themselves at the same bar one night. Gavin was out, determined to get at least one new phone number in that fancy, rich-kid gadget of his. Michael was out, drinking to get drunk, with Ray to get him home when he got wasted enough

Michael had spotted him from across the bar and, after staring at him for nearly ten minutes, Ray bet him $20 he didn’t have the guts to buy him a drink. Michael could turn down a dare, but he could never turn down a bet. 

So he sidled right up to the Lad and offered to buy him a drink. When he just shrugged and asked for a Coke, Michael laughed. Gavin fell in love with his laugh, and Michael fell in love with Gavin. 

Love at first sight was such a Disney fairy tale and both boys knew it. Yet here they were, two dates in, alone in Michael’s little apartment. 

Michael straddled Gavin on the couch, holding his face in both hands as he kissed him. The TV was playing on mute in the background, casting a flickering light on the two. He grinned as Gavin’s fingertips pressed harder into his thighs. He took it as an invitation to move his own hands down, his fingers lingering a bit to trace his collar bone. 

Gav didn’t pull back until Michael began tugging his shirt upward slowly. “Don’t you think you should buy me a drink first?” He planted his palms against the older man’s chest, pushing him back an inch. 

“I bought you a drink already.” He rolled his eyes, settling on just toying with the hem of Gav’s shirt. 

“Isn’t it a three date rule though?” 

“Dude. If you don’t want to, just say so.” Michael slowly crawled his fingers back up to Gavin’s shoulders. 

“Nah, it’s fine, I’m just saying. I thought that was the rule.”

“Gavin. If I try to take your shirt off again, will you start stalling again?”

“I’m not stalling.”

“That’s a yes. Jesus.” He rolled off him, landing beside him on the couch. He tried to frown at the younger man, but one look at him and his mouth twitched into a smile. “You’re a piece of shit.” 

Gavin shrugged and scooted right up next to the other man. “You don’t even know me though, really. Aren’t you supposed to get to know someone before getting into their pants?”

“I know your name.” He draped an arm around the younger. “It’s Grabbin Bees, right?” 

Gavin laughed and shook his head. He nuzzled his head into Michael’s chest and hummed softly. “I’m gonna be famous someday, Michael.” 

“You know that?”

“Yeah. Maybe not, you know, like, Jimmy Stewart famous but-.”

“Jimmy Stewart famous?”

“Well, yeah. Everyone knows Jimmy Stewart. I wont be classic like that. But I’m gonna be famous.” He curled into Michael’s side, dragging his legs up onto the couch. 

“What’re you gonna be famous for?” 

“I’m gonna be a cameraman.” He felt the laugh coming on that always followed that statement. “No, really. I’m gonna work on movies and shows. And I’m going to do all kinds of things with my camera. Have you ever seen a Phantom Flex, Michael? I’m gonna get one and then I’m gonna film all sorts of things in slow mo. And it’s gonna be beautiful. It’s so expensive though.”

Michael had no real interest in anything he’d just said but the spark that took to Gavin’s eyes and made the green shine like a gem was enough to nearly melt him into a little puddle. “Your parents are loaded. Ask them to buy you the camera?” 

Gavin shook his head. “It’s got to be mine, Michael. I need to do it myself.” He leaned into Michael’s touch as he began carding his fingers through his hair. “What about you?” 

“What about me?”

“What do you want to do?” 

He paused for a moment, thinking. “I don’t really have anything I want to do.” 

Gav pulled back in astonishment. “What do you mean?”

“There’s nothing I really _want_ to do, I guess.”

“Then what are you working for?”

“Nothing, really.”

“What do you do?” 

He hesitated, weighing the options of telling Gavin what he actually did quickly deciding against it. “I do sort of freelance work. Just… You know… Going where I’m needed.”

“But what do you live for? Everyone has something they want out of life.” 

“Maybe other people _do_ ,” He fluffed Gavin’s hair. “Not me.”

They were silent for a few minutes before Gavin spoke up. “That’s sad. We can find you something!”

“Gavin.” 

“No, really! What are you supposed to do if you don’t have anything to strive for? We can find something.” He pushed back to scoot onto Michael’s lap and stare at him. “I won't have you wasting your life away, Michael… Eh…” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Michael, you’ve never told me your last name.”

“Tuggey.” He answered, almost too quickly. 

“Really? Okay.” His voice raised again to proper scolding level. “Michael Tuggey! I won't stand for it!”


	2. Exactly What They Need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there's no Jurassic World spoilers. Unless you count people dying as a spoiler. In which case, oops.

“So, let me get this straight. He asked for your last name, which is arguably one of the most common last names on the planet,” Ray held his face in his hands. “And you were so worried he’d recognize it that you used Lindsay’s last name, which is not a common last name and is directly associated with _Lindsay_.” 

“Look, I didn’t think it through that much.”

“Oh my god you’re an idiot.” He looked up as Michael snatched his phone out of his pocket.

_Gavin: Michaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeelllllll_

_Michael: What?_

“Aw, is that your wittwe boyfwiend?”

“Ray, shut the fuck up.”

_Gavin: I don’t have anything to do tonight. You wanna see a movie?_

_Michael: Depends. When and what?_

“I wanna text him.”

“Fuck no.”

_Gavin: Whenever you can and whatever you want? I’ll buy._

_Michael: How about the new Jurassic Park? There’s a 6:15._

_Gavin: That works. If you smuggle some snacks in, I’ll buy popcorn and soda._

_Michael: Just wait. I’ll be smuggling in more than just snacks._

_Gavin: What?_

_Michael: It’s a sex thing._

_Gavin: What?_

_Michael: Means I wanna fuck you._

_Gavin: I’m confused?_

_Michael: TELL MICHAEL NOT TO KILL ME_

_Gavin: Ohhhhhh_

_Michael: SAVE MEEFNAFE FE!1_

_Incoming Call: Michael Tuggey_

“Hello?” Gavin was amused by the situation, and figured Michael was calling to apologize. He was met by muffled rustling sounds and shouts from two voices. One was Michael’s, the other was presumably whoever had been texting him. 

“I wasn’t wrong though!” The other voice was closer. He was probably holding the phone while running away from Michael.

“Give me my fucking phone!” Michael was farther behind. There was laughter then a cry. A thump echoed on the phone as it hit the floor. The voices were further away now and too muffled to be understood. 

“Ryan, save me!” The other voice suddenly called out. There was a bit more rustling and a short scolding from a third voice before the phone was picked up again.

“Gav?”

“Your friends seem nice.”

“Yeah, hang on.” Michael leaned away from the phone. “ _Get a room, assholes!_ Sorry, That was Ray.”

“I see.”

“So, what kind of snacks?”

“Nothing too noisy. Hey Michael?”

“Hm.”

“Was he wrong?”

“Wrong about what?” 

“Read the texts.”

Michael was silent for a moment as he poked at his phone, to bring the messages up. “Oh.”

“Yeah. So…?”

“Well... no.”

~*~*~

Michael shifted his weight, standing by the box-office at the theater. It was 6:10 and Gavin still wasn’t there. He could feel the box of Sour Patch Kids trying to slide out of his coat. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he eagerly whipped it out, only to find a text from Geoff. He groaned inwardly and tapped out a reply. 

Gavin yanked a door open to be met with a very angry glare from his date. “I may have misjudged how fast I walk.” He smiled sheepishly.

“The movie starts in five minutes, dude!”

“The trailers start in five minutes, relax.” He waved a hand and strode up to the box-office, getting them each a ticket. 

“You don’t have to pay for me, you know.”

“I thought this was a date.” Gavin shot him a grin, handing his ticket to the taker and getting a pair of glasses back. 

Michael blinked at the glasses then down at his ticket. “Did you get the 3D movie, Gavin?”

“Yeah. Why?” 

He handed the taker his ticked and begrudgingly accepted the glasses handed to him. “Gavin. I want you to take a good, long look at me and tell me why you think that might have been a stupid idea.”

Gavin tilted his head and squinted at him. “I don’t-”

“I’m wearing glasses already, you asshole!” He groaned. 

“Couldn’t you have worn contacts?” He stepped up to the snack bar.

“I could have, if you’d told me to.” He folded his arms as Gavin ordered. “Whatever. I’ll deal.” 

“Sorry.” He handed Michael a cup to fill. 

He sighed at the sheepish look on the Lad’s face. “It’s fine. Really.” 

They filled their cups and moved to the theater, taking their seats and unloading Michael’s stash of smuggled candy. Gav propped his legs up on the chair in front of him, urging Michael to do the same. 

Just as the opening logos for the movie started running, Gavin fidgeted and leaned into Michael. He glanced at him and bit his lip. “Michael.” He whispered. “You’re not allowed to judge me if I get sick, okay?”

“Are you gonna throw up on me?” He leaned away, eyeing the Lad suspiciously. 

“No, no, no. I just… I get squeamish. It’s really easy to make me gag.” He held a hand up. “Don’t.” 

“All right, you’re fine. I promise not to judge.” He grinned, fluffing his hair. “Now shut up. It’s starting.”

Gavin made it through most of the movie without getting sick, only retching once when a guy got bit in half and wincing when someone else was swallowed whole. Every so often he would gasp softly and whisper something along the lines of “Look at that shot, Michael!” By the end of the movie he had raised the armrest between the two to snuggle into Michael, completely enthralled by the climax of the film. They left the movie hand in hand, with Gavin excitedly chattering about everything. 

He didn’t stop until they reached the parking lot when he realised that it was now dark, and he really didn’t want to walk home in the dark. “Michael?” 

“Do I get to talk now?” He rolled his eyes. 

“Michael, can you drive me home?” 

“Oh, uh. Yeah, sure.” He tugged his keys out of his pocket, leading the younger man to his car. Gavin gave him a few directions and resumed his chatter about the movie until they reached his apartment. 

Michael stopped outside the building and leaned back in his seat, glancing over at Gavin. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Uh, yeah.” He popped the door open but quickly shut it. “Do you want to come inside?”

He hummed once and nodded, quickly spinning the car into a parking spot. “Lead the way.”

Gavin’s apartment was on the third floor and it was orders fancier than his. He looked around at the pristine room, at the floor to ceiling windows and the fancy couches and chairs. There was a massive television with at least three different consoles connected to it and a few comfy looking bean bags. To the left was the open space kitchen that looked almost untouched and very likely was. It wasn’t a big apartment, as there were only three other rooms down a short hallway, but it was more than Michaels. 

“What do you want to drink?” Gavin wandered to the fridge and pulled the door open. 

“I don’t care. Just get me a beer, if you’ve got it.” He shifted uncomfortably before a bottle was lobbed at his head. He glared at Gavin who was harboring a small grin. “What if I hadn’t caught that, asshole?”

“Then I’d have cleaned it up later and kissed your boo-boo to make it better.”

“You could’ve given me a concussion.”

“Don’t be a baby.” He grinned, walking past him to flop in a bean bag. Michael slowly wandered near him, hovering around the seats. “You’re not gonna break anything. It looks nice, but that’s just because my parents insisted on hiring someone to take care of me. It’s stupid.”

Michael shrugged and flopped down. He knocked back a swig of the beer and set it beside him. “So, what games you got?”

“What do you want?” 

The boys popped in a game and set up multiplayer, going head to head to see who could get the most kills in three minutes. Michael was winning three to nothing before Gavin took matters into his own hands. 

Just as Michael was about to get another kill, Gav reached over and smacked his controller. It wasn’t hard enough to actually knock it away, and actually just gave Michael a chance to kill him again. “That was a mistake, you fuck. It’s on now!” 

Michael stepped up his murder game and Gavin upped his distraction game until he was down by five games. In a last ditch effort, Gavin threw himself onto Michael, actually knocking the controller away and knocking him off his beanbag, landing on top of him. He pushed back a bit to grin down at Michael who just gave him a baffled look before latching one hand behind his head and pulling him down into a kiss.

The world disappeared around them until they were the only two in the universe, drowning themselves in the other. For a moment, it almost seemed as though Michael’s world could be normal. Like he wasn’t a murderer and a thief. Like he wasn’t Geoff Ramsey’s trained pet. Like maybe he was just a normal man that had a normal life and a normal job. 

That’s why he loved Gavin. When he was with him, he was normal. He could pretend. Gavin made him forget, and he never wanted to remember. 

When Gavin started pulling at his shirt, he sat up. “What’re you doing?”

“It’s three dates, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah, but you don’t have to, though.” 

Gavin just smiled. “I know.”


	3. I Can't Want It

It was three in the morning when Gavin was woken up by a crash. He slowly blinked his eyes open, rolling over and patting the bed beside him. Michael was gone. He must’ve gotten a drink and broken a glass or something. He sighed deeply and settled back into the pillow to go back to sleep.

“Gavin?” Well so much for that. “Are you up? Can you come out here?” He groaned and rolled out of the bed, stretching for a moment. He rubbed at his face and threw on a pair of pajama bottoms before wandering out of the room.

“Michael, I really don’t care if you broke a-” He looked up to see four strange men standing beside Michael and five guns all pointed at him. He only cared about one. Directly in front of him, Michael had both hands on a pistol aimed at his head. 

“Gav, I’m sorry.” He whispered. “Just do what they ask, and I promise they won't hurt you.” 

He couldn’t respond. He was floored. He should’ve known. He should’ve known that it couldn’t be real. It had blown up too fast. It had moved too fast. He’d thought maybe that was just what love was like. Apparently not. 

He wasn’t listening, but one of the men spoke, the one with the black hair and tired eyes. Two of his lackeys moved, the one with the skull mask and the one with the curly orange hair. They both grabbed his arms, walking him forward. He didn’t care. He had his eyes still locked onto Michael, who was returning an apologetic glance.

They led him outside and the two holding onto him blindfolded him and tied his hands behind his back before throwing him roughly into the back of a vehicle. He landed on his side and slowly wiggled himself into a sitting position. Someone sat on either side of him as the van started up.

It took a sharp turn and Gavin fell into the person on his right. The man turned to help him sit back up, but he wrenched away the second he felt the hand on his shoulder. He’d instantly recognized Michael’s touch and much preferred pressing against whoever was on his left. 

The group chatted and laughed as they drove along, like they weren’t in the middle of a kidnapping. Every so often Michael would say something and Gavin would push further into the other man, who he eventually figured out to be Ray. 

After riding in darkness for what seemed like hours, the car stopped. The back was ripped open and Gavin was yanked out with much less care than they’d showed him before. He slipped out of their grip and landed on the pavement. He heard Michael yell at them and he was fairly certain he’d scraped his elbow up and was now bleeding. 

He was harshly yanked around until he was sat down again and handcuffed to a chair. The blindfold was finally removed and he found himself in a small, empty room with only himself and Michael. He scowled at him and scooted his chair away, desperately wishing that anyone else would come in to relieve him of his spot on guard. He’d even settle for the creepy guy in the mask.

No such luck. 

Michael slid down the wall until he plopped onto the ground, dropping the blindfold beside him. He looked everywhere but at Gavin as a thick tension built between them. He fidgeted with the piece of fabric on the ground beside him, occasionally shooting a glance towards the door. But he instantly shot back to attention when Gavin spoke. 

“Two weeks.” Michael was quiet. “I met you two weeks ago.” Gavin’s voice was soft, faintly disguising the underlying fury. “And in those two weeks, we’ve been on only three dates.”

“Gavin--”

“I’m not finished!” He shouted but quickly returned to his just-above-whispering voice. “You know when you’re little and you watch those Disney movies? The ones where the prince and princess fall in love and get married the next day? Everyone tells you that doesn’t happen. That love at first sight isn’t real. When I met you, I thought I’d just been one of the lucky few. Turns out they were right.”

“Gav, don’t--”

“Don’t _what, Michael?!_ ” He turned to glare at him. “Don’t say those things?! Were they not true?! I don’t know much about love, but I know it doesn’t end up with someone being kidnapped and tied to a chair.”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen.” 

“Bull shit! You knew the whole time, you knew!”

“Not at first!” He glared at the other man, balling his hands up into fists. “Not at first. We went on one date. I came home and Geoff was there. Ray had told him, he looked you up. Found out your parents were…”

“Rich.”

“Yeah. That’s-that’s when he gave me the plan.”

“You didn’t argue with him.”

“I _can’t_ Gavin.” He hissed, standing up. “Geoff _owns_ me. He let me live and now he owns me. I can’t do anything against him or he’ll kill me, Gavin. You don’t understand.” He turned away from him, curling his hands into his hair. “The rest of the crew, they’re family. I’m the pet. I make one mistake, bite the hand that feeds me, and they put me down.” He glanced over his shoulder for just a moment before dropping his hands to his sides and sighing. “I can’t say no.”

“This is why you didn’t have anything.”

“What?” He half turned, pressing one hand against the wall. 

“When you said you didn’t have anything you wanted out of life. This is what you meant. You can’t have anything.”

“Why is that so important to you?”

“I remember you now.” Gavin hung his head, sighing at the ground. “I remember seeing you on TV. You lied to me about everything. Even your last name.”

“I didn’t want you to find out about me. Or start asking questions.” 

“You _lied!_ ” His head snapped up to glare at him again. “You could’ve told me! Michael, I loved you!”

“Loved?” 

“You could’ve told me and I would’ve played along. For Christ’s sake, my parents are bloody rich. This ransom isn’t going to put that much of a dent in their pocket.” He was getting flustered and all he wanted to do was fling his arms wildly in exasperation. He had to settle for yanking on the cuffs a few times. 

“You don’t under--” 

“You don’t understand! I _loved_ you! One date in, I fell in love with you! Bloody hell, in two weeks I let you- we did- I wanted to- I did… I did something I’d never done before-”

“Never done…?”

“-And I’m still not wearing a shirt now because of it! I’m literally freezing my tits off now.” He dropped back into the chair. 

He really wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond to that, and was honestly just shocked into silence for a solid minute while Gavin sat fuming. “I’m sorry.” He finally whispered. “This’ll all be over in no time and then we can just go back to doing whatever it is we do. We can start over.”

“Start over?” Michael didn’t like where that seemed to be headed. “ _Start over?!_ ” Nope. Definitely didn’t like where this was headed. “There’s no reset button on this, Michael! There’s no undo! There isn’t going to be any starting over! There is no ‘we’ anymore! I’m not an idiot. Everyone seems to think I am. I’m not. I’m smart enough to realise that I made a mistake trusting you.” He quietly relished in the small step back that Michael took in response, though he was too busy fighting back the urge to attack him, ass-first with the chair to really pay it much mind. “I hate you!”

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. Had he expected Gavin to really be okay with this? Had he really thought they could get past it? Really, he knew it’d be too far fetched, but he didn’t care enough to stop hoping. He should’ve been sad or hurt. He should’ve been upset with himself, but he wasn’t. He was furious and he wasn’t sure who with. He flexed and curled his hands once and grit his teeth before storming out of the door and slamming it with enough force that Gavin was sure it would break.


	4. You Lied To Them

Gavin wasn’t sure how long he’d been there. There didn’t seem to be any logical trade off between his guards. When one would get bored enough, they’d leave and send another in. He tried to get to know them a bit just to keep himself from going crazy. Only one actually cared to talk though.

He finally put a face to the name Ray and learned that he was simultaneously the youngest and the best. Ray apologized for stealing Michael’s phone and texting him. Also for ratting him out to Ramsey. Aside from that, he ignored any attempts of Gavin’s to have a conversation. 

The man in the skull mask was named Ryan. He had really nice eyes and talked even less than Ray. Gavin quickly gave up trying to talk to him, mostly because he scared the living fuck out of him. Once he figured out that he was Ramsey’s ‘Vagabond’, he did all in his power to keep on his good side.

His last guard, however was very different. The one with the orange, curly hair. That was Jack. She was the complete opposite of her counterparts. The two of them got along extraordinarily well for having a captive/guard relationship. She answered his questions, he answered hers. She chatted with him about the Crew and tried to reassure him that Ryan was actually just a big teddy bear. He learned that Ray and Ryan were a thing, but they hadn’t told anyone. Jack knew though. To be fair, it wasn’t hard to tell. Even Gavin began to notice the way they interacted in the few times he saw them together. 

Michael never came back after that first night and Gavin didn’t care. He didn’t want to see him anyway.

~*~*~

Michael wandered down the stairwell of his apartment building, headed towards Ray’s to hopefully mooch some lunch off him. He didn’t have the desire to cook or drive anywhere to get food. He didn’t really have the desire to eat either, but four days of living on the occasional beer wasn’t cutting it for him. As he reached the next flight of stairs, two familiar voices drifted up to him. The harshness in both voices caused him to hesitate and he shrunk back, listening.

“ _What?!_ ” Ray hissed. “No! You can’t!”

“It’s Geoff’s orders, Ray.” Ryan groaned back. “I don’t want to.” 

“You can’t! You’ve got to talk to Geoff about it.”

“I can’t.” 

“Yes you can! He listens to you!” 

“No, he listens to Jack.”

“Then talk to Jack!”

“Jack listens to him. They listen to each other and don’t listen to anyone else!”

“Ryan.” Michael had to strain to hear what Ray said next, his voice dropped so low. “It’s my fault Geoff knew about him in the first place. If you kill Gavin, Michael will kill me.”

Michael clung to the banister in a death grip as his stomach dropped through the floor. That didn’t make sense. Geoff had sworn Gavin would be safe. Why would he want to kill him? What would that do for him? 

His knuckles were turning white and his head was spinning. He couldn’t hear Ray and Ryan anymore and he wasn’t trying to. Mostly, he was just trying to keep from throwing up on the stairs. He had to get to Gavin.


	5. Try To Destroy Him

Geoff hovered over Michael as the young man struggled to push himself off the floor. “You thought we wouldn’t do anything about this, did you Michael?” He twisted the police baton in his hand. “Thought we’d just let it slide?” Michael only coughed. “I’m hurt too, you know.” His blue eyes were filled with a rage the kid had never seen before. “I thought we were _family!_ ” Just to get his point across, Geoff added a sharp kick to the ribs, sending Michael back to the floor. 

“Geoff…” Jack’s voice warned from a dark corner of the room, keeping the older man in check.

“You promised me he’d be safe!” Michael’s voice was soft and raspy. “You lied.” 

“I was protecting you!” Geoff shouted, landing another kick. “You thought you loved him.” He knelt down next to Michael’s head, resting his right arm over his propped knee. “I’ll let you in on a secret. Love isn’t real.” He straightened back up, planting a foot on the younger’s chest and forcing him onto his back. 

He shifted so most of his weight was now pressing down into Michael’s already fractured ribs, causing the kid to whine in pain. “It’s a lie told to make people believe in a sort of special magic that can make them happy.” Geoff ground his foot down, relishing in the cry it elicited. “It sponsors everything from simple ministers to money hungry corporations. And you think it was something real that you had.”

Geoff stepped back, again flexing his grip on the baton. He grinned, watching Michael wince slightly every time he tried to breathe. “I was protecting you from the inevitable.” He tucked the toe of his shoe between the man and the floor and lifted it to kick him onto his other side. “You think that just because you were having fairy tale feelings for him, because he let you get in his pants, that means that love is real?” He slowly circled around as Michael drew an arm to his chest, protectively.

“So, Michael.” Geoff dropped down to his knees, gently brushing a few curls away from the blood that was matting them together and quickly pulling back when the other winced. “I want to trust you, again. And you get one chance to earn that back, or this will seem like a walk in the park compared to what will happen if you don’t comply.”

Michael shivered, knowing full well that that wasn’t an empty threat. Ryan was typically the one to handle any sort of torturing they may possibly need, but Geoff was far better at it. He’d only experienced it once before, but the screams that came from it still haunted him. 

“I’m going to do all the hard work for you and everything. This is going to be very simple.” Geoff patted a stray curl down, lovingly. “I’m going to track him down, find him, bring him back. I’m serving him up to you on a fucking silver platter, Michael. All you need to do is kill him.” 

“What?”

“It can be as messy or clean as you like. I don’t care. And afterwards, you’re going to get over it, just like every other time you’ve killed someone. Understand?”

Michael struggled to push himself up a few inches, resting heavily on one forearm. “I can’t kill him.” The baton cracked down on his arm, sending him back to the floor with a soft cry. 

“ _Geoff_.” Jack’s voice was sharper this time and the other immediately complied, continuing his threats nearly an inch from Michael’s face.

“You don’t have much of a choice. You can kill Gavin, or I’ll kill both of you.” Michael trembled under the heat of his breath. “And if you love him so much, it’d behoove you to do everything in your power to keep that from happening.”

“Why do you care so much?” The kid hissed, tenderly cradling his arm to his chest. 

Geoff straightened up, grinning down at him with a look of complete sadism in his eyes. “Because I’m going to break you, Michael. Every good pet needs to be broken.” 

Jack finally took a few steps out of the corner, glancing towards the door. “Geoff. Come on. That’s enough.” She gave him a pointed look and turned towards the door, holding it open as Geoff quickly padded after her. He cast one last steely glare at the other man before slamming the door shut and leaving him alone. 

Once again, Michael struggled to sit up. Every breath he took hurt and he was about 80% sure Geoff had at least fractured his arm with that last hit. He shook his head, slowly, wincing at the pain brought on by Geoff’s almost careless use of the baton. He forced himself to sit up with his one good arm while attempting to do as little damage to his ribs as possible. 

The door slammed open, startling the Lad into whipping around, much to the dismay of his body. Ray practically flew in the room, landing beside Michael and tenderly began looking him over. “Oh my god, oh my god.” He mumbled. “This is my fault. Oh my god, I should have never told Geoff. Michael, I’m so sorry.” 

“Dude.” The red-head winced. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine.” He pushed the other man back with his good arm. “Ray, chill. Seriously. You’re not gonna help anything by being a fucking mom about it.”

Ray sat back on his heels and frowned. “Fine. But I’m calling Caleb to fix your arm.”

~*~*~

For over three months Michael lived in terror of the day that he was going to walk into Geoff’s penthouse and find him waiting there with Gavin. Every text he got made him jump. Every meeting he was called to scared him to death. Every phone call sent him into a panic. For nearly three months it was all needless paranoia. All until he got the one text he’d been dreading. 

_Geoff Ramsey: Meet us at Ryan’s. Someone’s here to see you._

Michael’s hands shook as he read the text over and over. Each time, his pulse quickened until he’d backed himself into a wall, hyperventilating at the device in his hand. He covered his mouth and pressed into the wall, desperately wishing he could just dissolve into it. With one text, the world crashed down around him. Everything felt too close, like it was suffocating him. His apartment, his clothes, his skin.

He slid down the wall, drawing his knees to his chest. He buried his face in them, tangling his hands in his curls. He had to move. He had to get to Ryan’s. If he waited too long, Geoff would hurt Gavin. He didn’t want to move. He wanted to sit right there and just die. But that wasn’t going to happen.

He uncurled, slowly. Still shaking, still breathing hard, still trying not to claw off his own skin. Switching onto all four’s, he crawled his way over to the front door where he finally pushed himself up, grabbed his keys and stumbled out of the building.


	6. Nothing Grows

Ryan’s penthouse was one of the nicest Michael had ever seen. A third floor suite that was fancier than even Geoff’s. He was fairly certain that Ray helped spruce up the place with the money he made off of the drugs he sold. He wrung his hands out on the elevator, shifting nervously from foot to foot. His panic had died down during the car ride, but the high anxiety levels lingered. He moved on autopilot down the hall to Ryan’s door where he only had to knock once before Ray swung it open, silently sharing his concern for Michael with his eyes for just a moment before silently leading him up a small flight of stairs to a guest room that was hardly ever used. 

He was greeted by a warmly smiling Geoff, an expressionless Jack, a masked Ryan, and a beyond furious, though ultimately terrified, Gavin. Ryan quickly brushed past him to shove Ray back out of the room, quietly pleading with him to “just go water the plants.” Michael slowly moved towards Geoff, never once taking his eyes off Gavin. He hadn’t changed much in the months he’d been gone. 

“So nice of you to finally join us Michael.” Geoff’s voice held that strange quirky sweetness it always had. It terrified the shit out of the Lad. “Hopefully this shouldn’t take too long and you can go right back to whatever you were doing.” Michael found himself wishing that Ryan hadn’t kicked Ray out.

“You said they’d leave me alone.” Gavin said lowly.

“I have a meeting at six.” Jack added, ignoring the Brit. “So, I’d like to be done by then, if we could.

“You _promised_ they’d leave me alone.”

“I’m actually going to that meeting too.” Ryan’s voice was slightly muffled by his mask.

“You said they’d forget about me.” 

“So that’s, what, two hours? Plenty of time, right Michael?” Geoff smiled.

“You said they’d leave me alone.”

Michael whipped around to face Gavin far more angry with him than he should have been. “Shut up, Gavin! I know! I know I said that! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” He missed the small wave Geoff gave to the other two.

“I thought for a second that maybe you actually would’ve been right.” 

“Gavin, stop it. You’re acting like a kid.”

“Do you even see anything wrong with what you’re doing?”

“Of course I do! Stop treating this like a damn soap opera! It’s life! It’s not pretty!”

Gavin’s eyes trailed down as Michael slowly pulled a small pistol from his pocket. “For a minute, I thought you might have actually cared about me.” 

“You’re acting like a girl!” He barked, leveling the gun like the second nature it was. 

“That’s sexist.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Just kill me if you’re going to already.” Gav folded his arms. “I don’t care anymore.” When Michael hesitated he piped back up. “Go on! Be Geoff’s little pet. Do what he wants. Maybe he’ll give you a treat later.”

“I’m not his pet.”

“You’re his damn lap dog!” Gavin shouted, throwing his arms to his sides and taking a step forward. “He whistles, you come running! Just put a damn bullet in my brain already! Make him happy! Just what you like!” 

Michael growled lowly. “Knock it off already.” 

“No! It’s true! Why are you hesitating anyway?! Waiting for love to save the day?! You know you’re going to! I can’t stand you! Get it over with, you coward!” 

That was the last straw. Three months of Geoff messing with his head, telling him that he was wrong, that love wasn’t real, that he was just being played. Three months of waiting in agony that was slowly driving him mad. Three months of vicious panic attacks every time his damn phone rang. It all cracked. 

Michael’s pistol clattered to the floor and in three long strides, he cleared the gap between them. The darkness that filled his eyes was enough to make Gavin stumble backwards, suddenly regretting everything he’d just said. With a rage fueled strength, Michael latched onto Gavin’s throat, yanking him close. “Love is a lie.” His voice was dark and the small tremble it pulled from the Brit didn’t go unnoticed. 

He didn’t care though. In a swift motion, he forced Gavin off his feet, smashing him through the window behind him. 

Two steps back from the window was just enough to block the pavement below from his sight, though the unmistakable crack of bones snapping faintly resonated up to him. He balled his fists tightly, digging his nails into his palms. 

When he turned around, the first thing noticed was how wide Ryan’s eyes were behind his mask. He quickly overlooked that, seeking Geoff’s reaction. His breath hitched excitedly at the malicious pride in his boss’s eyes. “I couldn’t have asked for a better show.” Geoff’s malice extended to his grin, though his attention quickly shifted as he instructed them all to scramble. 

~*~*~

Michael was miles away before he realised what had happened. The second he did, he slammed on his brakes, screeching loudly to a stop on a quiet country road. His fingers tightened around the steering wheel and he stared straight ahead as the horror registered in his mind. _I killed Gavin._

He flung the door open, stumbling out of the car towards the grass beyond the shoulder. His legs quit just a few feet from the road. That was enough. He folded his arms tightly against him, doubling over himself and shaking violently. It was all he could do to keep from screaming as tears silently streaked down his face. 

Geoff had won. He sucked in a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before letting it out with a choked sob. Geoff had broken him. He shivered, despite the early autumn warmth. The excitement he’d originally felt at seeing the pride in the older man’s face now made him sick. His nails dug deeply into his arms. He had to stop. Stop crying. Stop feeling like he was going to lose his lunch. Stop feeling.

Gavin’s wasn’t the first life he’d taken. How had he felt towards the others? Apathy? Disconnect? Almost boredom? Where were those now? He took another deep breath, biting down on his lip. _Gavin was nothing. A one night stand. Just some guy. A job. A mission._ He uncurled slowly. _It was a play. He was nothing. The sex wasn’t even that great._ He staggered to his feet, wiping at his cheeks. _Geoff was so proud of me. It’s nice when Geoff’s proud._ He crossed the street, back to his car. _He’s always so clever. He knows exactly what to say._ His keys clinked as he started the engines. _Love is a lie._


	7. Who Can Say

_[March 23, 2015. Message received Michael. 6:14PM] Hey! Wanna go check out that restaurant I was talking about last night? I can buy._

_Michael: Well I’m out of groceries, so sure._

_[March 23, 2015. Message received Michael. 6:19PM] Sweet. Meet you there in twenty?_

_Michael: K_

_***_

_[April 2, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 3:42PM] Do you think it’s a bad idea to try to make a plasma cutter out of pencil lead and batteries?_

_Michael Tuggey: Yes? Why?_

_[April 2, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 3:51PM] I saw someone do it online._

_Michael Tuggey: You’re gonna fucking die._

_Michael Tuggey: I want a video._

_[April 2, 2015. Video Message received Michael Tuggey. 4:24PM]_

_Michael Tuggey: Holy shit. That’s actually awesome._

_[April 2, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 4:30PM] Told you!_

_***_

_[April 5, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 5:04PM] Michaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeelllllll_

_Michael Tuggey: What?_

_[April 5, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 5:06PM] I don’t have anything to do tonight. You wanna see a movie?_

_Michael Tuggey: Depends. When and what?_

_[April 5, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 5:07PM] Whenever you can and whatever you want? I’ll buy._

_Michael Tuggey: How about the new Jurassic Park? There’s a 6:15._

_[April 5, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 5:09PM] That works. If you smuggle some snacks in, I’ll buy popcorn and soda._

_Michael Tuggey: Just wait. I’ll be smuggling in more than just snacks._

_[April 5, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 5:11PM] What?_

_Michael Tuggey: It’s a sex thing._

_[April 5, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 5:12PM] What?_

_Michael Tuggey: Means I wanna fuck you._

_[April 5, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 5:13PM] I’m confused?_

_Michael Tuggey: TELL MICHAEL NOT TO KILL ME_

_[April 5, 2015. Message received Michael Tuggey. 5:16PM] Ohhhhhh_

_Michael Tuggey: SAVE MEEFNAFE FE!1_

_Incoming Call: Michael Tuggey_

_Michael Tuggey: Hey, where are you?_

_Michael Tuggey: The thing starts in fucking five minutes._

_Michael Tuggey: I look like an asshole standing out here._

_Michael Tuggey: What the fuck did you do with your phone?!_

_Michael Tuggey: Asshole._

_***_

_[April 14, 2015. Message received Michael Jones. 1:29AM] I’m there. Now what._

_Michael Jones: Stay there. Don’t text me. Stay hidden. They’ll forget you eventually. Bye Gavin._

_***_

_[September 26, 2015. Message delivered Michael Jones. 10:22PM] Michael?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all she wrote~


End file.
